Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Edges

Sometimes we look for sacred spaces, and sometimes they find us. In my experience, these spaces are typically on the edges of things. The edge is a transitional zone where, for example, a residential area might transition into an open, natural area. Often these are the forgotten places, hiding in plain sight outside of our field of vision. Someone from a more mystical persuasion might call them "liminal" or "thin" places. They are portals between worlds, both here and elsewhere simultaneously.

On the edge of suburbia, on a wooded hill overlooking a shopping mall, we found the ditch and D.I.Y. skate spot pictured above. The ditch, I suppose, is meant to provide some sort of erosion control. It certainly was not intended to be a place of creative movement and freedom. This is the beauty of skateboarding in seeing the innate possibilities of a place. And of course, to the hard work and ingenuity of skateboarders in crafting the spot as a canvas for expression. Maybe this is the way that a sacred space is made...